By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-10-17 13:41:29 | Updated at 2026-10-17 15:02:00
1 hour ago
TOKYO - A lack of official records is making it difficult to determine whether ousted Japanese farm minister Kazuo Yana pressured the land ministry to reduce road budgets for municipalities in Tochigi Prefecture, which includes his home constituency.
Yana was forced to resign by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier this week amid strong criticism of his remarks about cutting road budgets for municipalities whose leaders did not support him in a past general election.
The ministry said it kept no records of the inquiries Yana made to its officials following guidelines under the Public Records and Archives Management Act, which require government agencies to create records of their work, except in cases deemed “minor”.
Pundits, however, questioned the ministry’s handling of the case, saying Yana’s inquiries were not a minor matter and that the exemption should not have been used to justify the absence of any official records.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Yana summoned Masayoshi Kuroda, then head of its secretariat, to a parliamentary office building in February and asked about funding allocations for road projects in two municipalities.
During an internal investigation, Kuroda was quoted by the ministry as saying, “I have no detailed notes from the meeting and I do not think I was subjected to any lobbying or pressure”.
While the leaders of the two municipalities did not support Yana in February’s election, a ministry official said Kuroda likely determined that the exchange fell under the category of a minor issue and therefore concluded that there was no need to keep a record.
Masahiro Uzaki, a professor emeritus of Dokkyo University, said the matter was not minor because the ministry’s secretariat chief went in person to meet Yana over road budget allocations, an exchange that warranted an official record.
The land ministry “takes record-keeping and accountability far too lightly,” Uzaki, a specialist of constitutional and information law, added. KYODO NEWS
